new website

We're making a shiny new website over here - come and visit for a cuppa : )

http://theoutcasts.co.uk/

Outside:Inside Festival - call for submissions

http://www.outsideinsidefestival.com
The Outside:Inside Festival is a month long celebration of the arts. Music, Film, Art, Theatre and Dance are all showcased throughout the festival period amongst the festivals inside and outside spaces.
The Concept? Simple. The Outside:Inside takes the inside art institutions outside for the general public like yourself to enjoy out on the streets, and open spaces; whilst the outside festival vibe is taken inside, into the venues and into the shops, the restaurants, bars and quite possibly some pretty unusual places too, but you will have to keep your eyes peeled for that.

Performers will be descending on Reading from around the globe, with acts representing many great nations including Israel, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Canada, the USA, and even Transylvania, Romania. These top global acts will bring a wealth of differing global styles with them, interacting with the huge amount of local talent whic will be drawn to the festival.
Interaction is the key, build an art installation, stroll the art market stalls, chooe from a worldwide array of food, ponder the outside art, sing along to the bands on stage, take a moment to reflect on the poetry and spoken word, be suprised by the random improvised theatre, foot-tap to a bit of Jazz or getting down and dirty at one of our inside venues afterparties or headline shows alongside the festival profile bands, big name DJs, and organisers till the wee hours.

The Mission:
The Outside:Inside Festival is brought to you by Outside Inside LTD with the support of Reading UK CIC.
Their joint aim. To provide Reading with a new more vibrant and celebrated culture, whilst providing a voice to the wealth of artistic talent and young enterprise in the Thames Valley area.
The festival is for you. The people of Reading, the familys, the shop workers, the shop owners, the bartenders, the professional, the young, and the old. This is why we have made all outside space free. It won't cost you a penny to come along and interact.

The Art Bits:
Submissions/ proposals are invited to use the following spaces at the following times. Please send all proposals to suzanne@jelly.org.uk. All submissions must be received by 28 June 2010

31st July
Behind BSM/ Civic Office area/ Dusseldorf Way, Clomnel Walk area
12-8pm( or hours in between them)

14th August
Market Place
-Through Bristol & West Walk, outside either ends of the space
12-8 ( or hours in between them)


21st August
Forbury Gardens
-Any area really -
12-8 ( or hours in between them)

looking forward too hearing from you!


Suzanne Stallard
Director

e suzanne@jelly.org.uk
website http://jelly.org.uk


jelly is an arts organisation in the heart of Reading. Established in 1993 as an artist led studio and exhibition facility, jelly is a registered charity limited by guarantee 1100730, running exhibitions, educational activities, special arts events with the visual arts and creative excellence being top of our agenda.

jelly’s charitable objectives are:

• To promote the development of the arts and in particular the visual arts for the benefit of the local community by providing studio space and facilities for public exhibitions and by organising events which improve public access to the arts

• To advance education by promoting understanding and learning about the creative processes involved in the visual arts

Creating Together

Since the Knit A Poem letters and our Outcast banner we've worked together on two secret projects.

Emma's birthday mitts, an Outcast project for a special birthday.

The Skein Queen Hug Blanket, which the Outcasts contributed to along with other fans/friends of Skein Queen. Blogged about here.

Group projects are always fun but there's something extra special about these secret projects. The knitters conspire and strategise to combine their efforts into something greater than what the individual would achieve. The finished objects end up with such fantastic stories of their creation.

Give fleece a chance

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Belated Happy New Knitty Year

Outcast are still knitting away and meeting each week. Just been a bit quiet on the blog. To kick off the new year - have a look at this animation "Life Behind the Scenes" by David Shrigley for Pringle. Hope it makes you smile.

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Outcasts Banner Pattern

It's been a busy Autumn so far for us at Outcasts HQ and our knitting-in-public appearances at IKnit Weekender in London, and LMEYD in Reading, presented the perfect opportunity to finally knit an 'Outcasts!' banner - after all, there's nothing like a deadline or two!

Knitted bunting was our favoured style of banner so after drawing up lettering charts we started on the stash. Exposing our inner yarn snobs to the suitcase of banished acrylics in the corner proved extremely painful for some but resulted in remarkably quick knitting! and a very effective banner. The real gain for us though was the sheer fun of creating something together.

A free pattern and blank chart for your own personal use is available to download here. We'd love to see what you create with it so drop us a post here or on our Ravelry pattern page here.

Knit a Poem

The Poetry Society celebrates it's Centinary this year and part of the celebrations include the world's first giant knitted poem.

Over 700 knitters from around the world are getting involved by knitting letters and blank squares in readiness for the grand unveiling of the top secret poem in October.

Outcast have been knitting squares and we're proud to announce that next
Wednesday 9th September will be a special 'Knit Togther' night of sewing some of these squares plus some extras to take up with us to Iknit. The squares will be cerimoniously handed over to the lovely Poetry Society who have a stand at the event.

Join us for some poetry related knitting and sewing up, a cup of tea and slice of cake at Jelly in Reading from 7pm next Wednesday.

Wearable Cupcakes

I'm so excited by Mika's flamboyant knitware in his new music video. I just want to show everyone shouting 'Wow -look at this! Isn't it the coolest thing ever!' I think non-knitters might be a bit confused by my enthusiasm -but hopefully you'll understand!

1st Wedding Anniversary

I'm still overwhelmed by the amazing Outcast talent that made my wedding day feel so special -Thank you!

Fabulous Flowers, Lively Music, Handknitted Accessories, Beautiful Bunting and Delicious Cake

Wind powered knitting. via MeFi

Happy Birthday

Alabamawhirly!

Amazing knitter, purveyor of scrumptious cakes,

generous entertainer, formidable artist

and above all dearest friend.

From all of us Outcasts

The formidable world of Justine Holt

One Sunday morning just before noon on the first day of summer, Alabamawhirly, Melarno, the formidable twins an I found ourselves eating strawberries and amaretti biscuits in the garden of the artist Justine Holt. Justine lives in a beautiful cottage in Pangbourne where she makes delicate beautiful paintings on blank gesso and exquisite pieces of sewing, stitching and embroidery. She shared a view into her world with warmth and generosity, into her studio which is filled with light, art work, books, fabrics, and pieces of crockery all arranged like a memory trail on a canvas painted in Farrow & Ball. The studio and cottage are surrounded by a magical garden where old tools have found a resting nest and an empty bottle of what used to be a Neal's Yard concoction is now used as a lighthouse for the fairies who gather to drink tea from the lettuce leaves, wearing knitted knee-high socks and ribbons that they've just purchased at Liberty's while they were looking for summer hats. And for those of us who are not fairies and were not amazingly lucky to view her work in person, Justine's art is available on
http://www.justineholt.co.uk/

WWKIP Weekends

It's World Wide Knit In Public Weekend

Join us for some yarn bombing, knitting in public and eating cake from 12.30 pm on Sunday 14th June in Caversham in the park by the river near the kids playground. Maybe it won't be too wet to sit on the grass and knit some fuzzy wings for the bees, little summer skirts for the butterflies, evening cosies for the railings and fluffy scarves for the trees, and have a knitted knatter until dusk.

SHOW TWO at the Royal College of Art

Date for your diary for the forthcoming MA textile graduate exhibition - Open from 26 June – 5 July (closed 3 July). Open 10am to 6pm daily.

The event will also showcase work from Animation, Architecture, Communication Art & Design, Conservation, Critical and Historical Studies, Design Products, Design Interactions, Fashion Footwear and Accessories, History of Design, Industrial Design Engineering and Vehicle Design.

We should do this

Words and knitting, we should especially do it as justbefore this someone was telling me poem about knitting by Adrian Mitchell, they were relaying it over the phone so this is meant to be.

I've sent of for a pack so we should be on course...

Knit a Poem

Celebrate the Poetry Society's centenary, by helping to create the world's first giant knitted poem.


Knitters everywhere are invited to knit a poem one letter at a time. The final poem, in all its knitted glory will be revealed at the end of the centenary year.




Packs will be available at the beginning of May, featuring knitting templates, and instructions. There will be opportunities for experienced knitters and beginners alike.

To register your interest, send your contact details to:

Rebecka Mustajarvi

Email: officeassistant AT poetrysociety.org.uk
(please use @ instead of AT when sending your email).

Or (if you don't have email)

Post: PLEASE INCLUDE AN SAE

Rebecka Mustajarvi
Knit a Poem
The Poetry Society
22 Betterton Street
London
WC2H 9BX

Back to back

Seen as part of Stroud textiles festival – an attempt to knit a man’s sweater, from sheep’s back to man’s back, in a day. It was part of the international Back to Back Challenge, an annual competition where teams from all over the world hand-shear a sheep, and attempt to spin and knit the sweater faster than any other team.



There were two sheep to be sheared [each accompanied by young lambs who presumably couldn’t be left behind]. They were from a flock of organic Lleyns, lent from Highgrove. And to fit in with the competition rules they had to have been reared entirely outside. The shearer chose one with a dense fleece and one with looser, so that the spinners could choose. I think they went for the denser one as being easier to spin quickly.





The team was made up of seven ladies, not counting the shearer, and they were all able to spin and to knit, and so could swop jobs during the day. All participating teams had to follow a fixed sweater pattern, and the finished woolly would be inspected for dropped stitches and deviations from the pattern, which would mean being disqualified.

At nine o’clock sharp, the shearer started. And at seven minutes past nine, there was enough wool spun for the first knitter to cast on. The sheep was looking pretty ragged – not a neat job at all, but super-fast. And then all day, in a gazebo on the lawn outside the Museum in the Park, the seven ladies took turns to spin and to knit. The wool was coarse and unwashed, and so scratchy and hard to work with. A friendly masseur spent the afternoon rubbing their aching shoulders and arms.

In 2008, the winning team was from Toronto and finished their sweater in five hours, 55 minutes and 50 seconds. The Stroud team wouldn’t have beaten this as they were still at work at 4.30 when I left, but they were hoping to be done by early evening. The finished sweater is being silent-auctioned to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support charity.

famous people and knit night

You know that emma is a knit superstar, Kevin McCloud stroking her cosy and all that, well now skein queen is having a trunk show all to herself this weekend at socktopus from 12-5pm. Just drool over that yarn....



If anything is left (LOL!) then the queen will bring some for us outcasts to look at next Wednesday.

In the meantime, knit night is on tonight, without yarn to drool over from Skein Queen, from 7-9.30 at jelly workshops, Old Town Hall - everyone is welcome

being inspired

This little village has been in the news this week.

It reminds me of somewhere I used to go to as a child, Bekonscot, which I loved. This may be even better as it is knitted! The village of Mersham in Kent was created by 40 knitters over a 23 year period. The work will be sold off piece by piece to raise money for the village hall.

More info available here

Vicunas - FIBRE FACTS

Image from www.vicunas.com

You think Alpacas are cute - have a look at these fellas - if you don't know already these are called Vicunas. Closely related to Alpacas, Vicunas have a fine soft hair which is celebrated for its insulation properties. It is said that Vicuna yarn is the finest and luxurious natural wool in the world.

Vicunas are wild animals and unlike the Alpaca they are too shy to domesticate. A Vicuna can only produce a small amount of yarn each year and capturing the wild animals to obtain the fibre can be a little tricky. Peruvian communities join together to capture the animals by forming a large circle around them, banging the ground to stun them and slowing closing in on them or luring them into traps. Once sheared the animals are released unharmed but due to this time consuming and potentially stressful event for the Vicuna, the animals are only sheared every 3 to 4 years. You may be disappointed to hear that you won't be able to get this yarn at your local John Lewis. As you've probably already guessed this yarn is very expensive. Vicuna fabrics can range from £1000 to £3000 per sq yard.

Join the Slow Art and Craft Revolution

http://makingaslowrevolution.wordpress.com/

It's time to slow down - so say the people behind the 'taking time: Craft and the Slow Revolution' project at the Southbank Centre (27th April). They say 'the revival of craft is central to current arts practice, and notions of slowness are epitomised by crafts and craftsmanship.' I must say...I agree with them. There is nothing better after a hetic day than sitting quietly with your knitting with a freshly brewed pot of tea and reflecting on your day. Knitting and making a good cup of tea are crafts which cannot be rushed. They take time.

The 'Slow revolution' project questions whether our 'fast paced', 'mass produced', 'wasteful' lifestyles are good for the human condition. If we just slowed down could we create a better world for ourselves? I'm willing to give it a go!

At the Southbank Centre in London they hosting a series of events entitled 'Slow Down London - living in real time festival' from the 24th April to the 4th May. The events include a Slow Food Market and tips on Slow Travel.

With thanks to IanT for sharing this event with me.